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By Mulengera Reporters
The four members were part of the pioneer cabinet Gen Museveni commenced with as of January 1986 when he was still very revolutionary and enjoyed organic popularity wherever he went. We are talking about PK Semogerere, Kizza Besigye, Sebaana Kizito and Jaberi Bidandi Ssali.
The Semogerere (Internal Affairs), Bidandi (Labour) and Sebaana (Regional Cooperation) trio was part of Museveni’s cabinet of 30 full Cabinet Ministers unlike Besigye (State Min Internal Affairs) who was a Deputy Minister.
It was a Cabinet of Uganda’s best cream in that it had only 30 full cabinet ministers and 10 Deputies. Unlike today when flattery, sycophancy and engagement in witchcraft is how Ministers placate themselves, Gen Museveni those days respected his Ministers and debated public policy with them. Quite often, he altered his position after such debates.
He had nothing to be paranoid about because his public support was overwhelming and no one had to be paid or lured with food to attend his rally. The NRM was simply very revolutionary those days and the public-spirited approach with which Gen Museveni led Uganda caused leaders in neighboring countries to come under a lot of pressure from their populace.
Out of that pioneer Cabinet of 1986 came four fearless and principle-driven sons of Uganda who publicly took on Gen Museveni and subsequently competed with him for the Presidency. These are PK Semogerere (1996), Kizza Besigye (2001, 2006, 2011 & 2016), Bidandi Ssali (2011) and Sebaana Kizito (2006).
First to depart in principle was PK Semogerere who developed irreconcilable differences with Gen Museveni and resigned from his Cabinet in June 1995 before standing against him in 1996 (he had a lot of encouragement of Gen David Tinyefuza who very much was still part of the army command). PK had been Minister of internal affairs, foreign affairs, deputy prime minister and finally Minister of Public Service.
PK accused Museveni of political trickery and dishonesty and went on to lead the debate or advocacy for the return of multipartism in the CA in July 1995. That debate lasted 5 days and ended into the introduction of the infamous Article 269 which banned political parties in favor of the Movement system.
This Movement system was contemptuously dismissed by PK and his ilk as being synonymous with one party state, which Semogerere was to later on instigate Erias Lukwago to resist through the courts of law. The aggrieved multipartists coalesced around PK’s leadership and even fronted him as their joint candidate for President in 1996.
He took on Museveni on the platform of Inter-Party Forces Cooperation (IPFC) which had parties like UPC, DP and Tiberio Okeny’s Liberal Party. Semogerere lost and, backed by Obote who was then active from his Zambian exile, he ordered all his adherents to boycott the Parliamentary elections that followed.
That boycott was heeded by majority multipartists especially in Buganda, which was the genesis of Musevenists dominating electoral positions in the central region. The PKs hoped that their ill-conceived boycott would shame Museveni and frustrate his politics but it didn’t as the man from Rwakitura merely cruised on to have his loyalists dominate the 6th Parliament (1996-2001).
Even outside Parliament, PK Semogerere limped on as the leader of opposition in Uganda up to 2001 when Dr. Besigye came onto the political scene. Besigye was to lead the opposition to Museveni up to 2016 when he was gradually dethroned by the political upstart and music celebrity Bobi Wine Kyagulanyi Ssentamu.
There was also Jaberi Bidandi Ssali (father to singer Bebe Cool) who dramatically fell out with Museveni as early as 2003 over the removal of Article 105(2) which had imposed two terms for the President.
Bidandi led a team of insiders including fellow Ministers and Army officers (including Gen Muntu, Henry Tumukunde, Col Fred Bogere, Eriya Kategaya, Mushega, Miria Matembe, Sarah Kiyingi, Kasule Lumumba, Emmanuel Ddombo, Johnson Nkuuhe, Augustine Ruzindana etc) to say no to Museveni’s stay in power beyond 2006. These were joining Besigye who had sensed trickery and belled the cat much earlier on.
Museveni, who Onyango Obbo recently predicted is determined to have his casket rolled out from Entebbe or Nakasero State House, disregarded all of them, found new friends like Daudi Migereko, Prof Semakula Kiwanuka, Nyombi Thembo, James Nsaba Buturo and carried on.
When the debate on scrapping Article 105(2) became very contentious, Museveni in May 2003 convened a Movement retreat in Kyankwanzi from where Bidandi dared and asked him why he thought he was politically indispensable and more intelligent than all the other comrades.
Bidandi was a big man in the Movement and it indeed had to be him to lead the others in asking the tough questions. A fire-breathing Museveni, not used to being questioned inside his own political organisation, answered him with: “Who are you Bidandi? You are just a mere spike in the wheel! You can go.”
Museveni was in a fighting mood but his tough-talk didn’t cow his opponents inside the Movement because after Bidandi had been silenced, others like Muntu, Miria Matembe etc pushed back during that Kyankwanzi session and fearlessly debated with Museveni in the days that followed. In the end, they lost the battle as Museveni got MPs to scrap term limits (after pocketing Shs5m each), which enabled him to keep cruising on up to this day.
The Bidandi group were subsequently purged from Cabinet in a Cabinet reshuffle which Gen Museveni occasioned on 28th May 2005. Bidandi left and founded his own PPP party but in 2006 he personally didn’t stand for President but was hostile to Museveni who he branded a political manipulator of the century.
In a Super fm interview with the late Mulindwa Muwonge, Bidandi Ssali declared his support for Besigye whom he voted for in 2006. In 2011, he took to the ring and directly challenged Museveni by standing for President but got negligible number of votes.
In his case, Sebaana Kizito, who Museveni branded a saboteur saying all the years he was in his broad-based Cabinet he was just busy undermining the Movement from within, stood against his former boss in 2006 when he stood for President only to perform very dismally.
He was on the DP ticket and trailed behind Museveni and Besigye. Norbert Mao, who was to replace him as DP President four years later, was his campaign manager. He too accused Museveni of dictatorship and dishonesty.
Other former allies who fell out with Museveni and accused him of diverting from the original ideals of turning Uganda into a better-governed country have over the years included Benjamin Katana, David Lewis Rubongoya, Patrick Nsamba Oshabe, Aisha Kabanda and Amanya Mushega (though a few years ago was given billions to review the education sector).
Others are Gen David Sejusa (though later on rehabilitated into curious silence), Salaam Musumba, Eriya Kategaya, Mulwanyamuli Semogerere, Betty Nambooze, Winnie Byanyima, Maj John Kazoora, Augustine Ruzindana, Sam Njuba, David Pulkol (recently rehabilitated back to the system), Abu Mayanja, Spencer Turwomwe, Annie Mugisha, Gilbert Bukenya (has since been given perks & lured back) and Dr. Suleiman Kigundu etc.
Even Dr. Samson Kisekka who loyally served as Prime Minister and later on Vice President died on 25th October 1991 at a London hospital after famously complaining that Gen Museveni had made him a redundant advisor whose advice he never sought nor accepted anymore. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
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